20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



one case the material goes direct to a vertical machine without 

 tempering. Other Cretaceous clays require the addition of as much 

 as 20 per cent sand and then careful pugging before being used. 

 The total machine capacity of the district is 409,500 a day for the 

 active plants using nine machines. Five methods of drying are in 

 use — open yard, pallet yard, hot-air car tunnels, steam-heated 

 floors and steam car tunnels. The total drying capacity is divided 

 as follows: open yard 45,000, pallet yard 1,251,150, steam tunnels 

 208,000, hot-air tunnels 90,720 and steam floor 33,000. The total 

 number of arches of the active plants is 627 with capacities varying 

 from 32,000 to 50,000 each. The inactive plants have 194 arches 

 with capacities of 32,000 and 50,000 each. 



Mechanicville region. This section reported a reproduction of 

 52,390,000 with a value of $261,950 as compared with 50,416,000 

 and a value of $240,912 for 1914. There are three active plants 

 equipped with six machines having a combined daily capacity of 

 222,000. Two inactive plants have a daily capacity of 77,500 from 

 three machines. The entire output of the active plants is dried in 

 steam car tunnels. The burning capacity of the plants is about 

 435 arches. Almost the entire product of this section is disposed 

 of in the New England states. The season is continuous, brick 

 being produced during the entire year. 



Erie county. This region reported an output of 28,807,000 with 

 a value of $1.76,010 as compared with 40,015,000 and a value of 

 $244,116 for 1914. Of this output 15,515,000 were made by the 

 wire-cut process and had a value of $93,169. Due to the small 

 quantity of clay available it is probable that the amount of soft- 

 mud brick made in this section will continue to decrease while the 

 product of the wire-cut machines will increase to a considerably 

 greater amount. There are large quantities of shale and clay 

 available for the manufacture of all grades of building and front 

 brick in Erie county. Cheap fuel and nearby markets should 

 greatly increase this output. There were during the season of 19 15 

 six soft-mud plants and five wire-cut plants in active operation. 

 The soft-mud brick are made under similar conditions as are found 

 in the Hudson River region. There are a total of thirteen soft-mud 

 machines with a combined daily available capacity of 275,000. 

 Each machine, in this district, is usually operated with a daily 

 capacity of 20,000. Three methods of tempering are in use — 

 disintegrator with pug-mill, circular tempering pit and rectangular 

 tempering pit. Four yards are equipped as pallet yards, one is a 

 combined open and pallet yard and one is open. The permanent 

 updraft kiln is in use in the majority of the plants, only one using 



